Judge Yourself Lest You Be Judged

The Reason For My Faith ^ | 2/11/21 | Chuck Ness

[OneVike]

In this commentary I will tackle thee aspects of judging. One where we should be judging ourselves, one where many misunderstand the quote from Jesus about judging others, and one where it is justified for believers to judge unbelievers. The first two tie into the same subject, while the third is misunderstood by both believers and unbelievers alike. To properly understand one, will help you understand the others. Keep in mind, I speak for how Christians should look at judging, not how unbelievers should. Until one becomes a believer, it matters not to God how you act. Until one becomes born again, your soul is already in jeopardy of eternal damnation.

Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the LORD;
Lamentations 3:40

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.
Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus
Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
2 Corinthians 13:5

“Judge not, that you be not judged.
“For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged;
and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."
Matthew 7:1

"For what have I to do with judging those also who
are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?
But those who are outside God judges.
1 Corinthians 5:12-13

You ever been sitting in the house, and out of the corner of your eye, you spot something moving along the corner of the wall? Or maybe you’re lying in bed and you hear some scraping and scratching, the pitter patter of teeny tiny feet in the attic? When you have a mouse on the loose around the house, then you need to set a trap or two.

Now everyone has their idea of what the perfect bate is to lure that mouse into the trap. Cheese, peanut butter, or maybe a piece of sweet chocolate. The idea is to use something that will make a mouse drop it's guard so that it will be lured into eating the food. Thus it's demise, and the end of the annoying pitter patter while you are trying asleep. Well humans are no different, and neither is Satan. The only difference is the bate. If you take the bate that Satan sets out for you it could cost you your very soul.

Consider the fact that every choice we make in life can be seen by the Lord, and the Lord will judge us for all our outwardly and inwardly actions. So even if we just make a sinful choice in our heart by desiring it to happen, but never follow up on it, we are still guilty of the transgression. We are told by Christ;

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery, But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:28

The point being, the LORD knows everything. Knowing that, we need to keep in mind that every step we take, and every thought we think could be a step into a trap set by Satan to lure us into spiritual destruction. Woe is us, because who does not have wayward thoughts that are bad? Well this is why we are to judge ourselves in every step we take, and with every thought we think.

In Ephesians 6:10-18 Paul implores us to always be prepared by having the full armor of God on. Among the items of the armor, are the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. The helmet protects the minds of a Christian like a battle helmet protects the head of a warrior. While the sword is the Word of God, which we should be immersed in so that the helmet will have the power needed to protect our minds from becoming a playground of evil.

When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, he used Scripture, but the true knowledge of the Scripture is what Jesus used against Satan to defeat him. We too, should be as Jesus was. By wearing the helmet, and being prepared with the Sword of the Spirit. It is in this manner that you will be judging yourself, because when Satan tries to lure you into sin with a seed of temptation, you will have the knowledge of Scripture to respond to him as did Jesus. This is what will protect you from falling for the trap. You cannot lose, if you know and trust God's Word.

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,

“If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’
and, "In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone."
Psalm 91:11-12

Jesus replied to Satan by quoting Scripture from Deuteronomy.

“It is written again, ‘You shall
not tempt the LORD your God.
Matthew 4:7

God is holy. He is the King of the universe. He does not have to prove anything to anybody! Do not tempt God. We learn in the book of Hebrews about the power of the Sword of the Spirit.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of
soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12

Ignore this advice at your own peril, because only the unGodly will be standing in judgement before the Father. To avoid that judgement, you must remember to always be judging yourself. So that you will know, that you know you will be in the congregation of the righteous.

Consider if you will, the destination that will be your future, because if you don't judge yourself then be prepared to face God on judgement day. Psalms 1:5-6 tells us that the ungodly shall stand in the judgment, while those who choose wisely will live to stand in the congregation of righteous and thus gain eternal life.

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Psalm 1:1-6

Which brings me to what Jesus told His disciple about judging others. See, everything I wrote above truly does tie into a misunderstanding that many have over what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1.

“Judge not, that you be not judged.

“For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and
with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
Matthew 7:1

It needs to be pointed out, that Jesus was speaking specifically about those who publicly proclaimed to be children of the One True Living God and Creator of the Heavens and Earth. Which were the Jewish Religious leaders. Jesus was using them as an example of how His followers should not be. We are not to judge others hypocritically as the Pharisees and Sadducees did. That is why Jesus called them white washed tombs full of dead bones. In many ways, the Religious leaders were more guilty of what they accused others of doing, than those they accused. Thus Jesus tells His followers to judge righteously.

Also, his example of judging the religiious leaders, shows us who we can judge, how we must do so, if we feel the need to do so. Just as Jesus was judging Jews who claimed to be children of the true GOD we are speaking of Christians judging others who claim to be Christians. At the time Jesus walked with the disciples, He did not judge the gentiles. He only judged those who were Jews, because they were chosen specifically by GOD to be His. Thus their time of judgment had come in the man we know as Jesus. So, as another example, we are not to be holding non believers up to the same standards we hold brothers and sister in Christ up to.

Thus, if we do judge, we should only do so against other professing Christians, not against non believers outside the covenant of Christ. This also means when Christians judge other Christians, it should only be done so in a righteous way. Not like the Jewish Religious leaders did, who judged hypocritically to unrighteously rule over God's people. Since we are children of God through adoption papers signed by the blood of Christ, we do as He tells us, which is to judge other believers righteously.

So how do we as followers of Jesus judge righteously? Well, by doing what I stated above. Start by judging our selves. Thus I state, Judge yourself, lest you find yourself being judged with the unGodly. We do so by wearing the helmet of salvation and bearing the Sword of the Spirit. Keep immersed in the Word, and judge your own actions daily as you go through life. When you see a brother or sister in Christ falling away by sinning, you then have an obligation to judge them.

Paul tells the Corinthians they should judge other Christians, but he also tells them not to judge those of the World. Paul could not be any more clear on the subject than he was to the Corinthians in his second epistle.

I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges.
1 Corinthians 5:9-13

So not only should Christians judge other believers, they should also discipline them based on those judgments. Jesus tells us John's Gospel;

“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24

Clearly, Jesus expects us to judge, but simply wants us to judge correctly, using proper standards. The best way to be sure you are properly judging another Christian in a righteous manner, is to be sure you are immersed in the Word yourself. Thus you should first judge yourself to be sure you are not bringing condemnation upon yourself by judging hypocritically. I always tell someone who is tasked with approaching a Christian who has stumbled, to first pray for God to search your heart to find anything you yourself may have done that would make your rebuking of a brother or sister hypocritical.

Finally, I understand we live in a world where evil exists, and we, as a citizen of the country we live in often times see the need to be critical of those in the World. However, societies do not work without laws, and as such, we are given a green light to judge other who are not believers, but not for their failure to follow God's laws. God gives us the right to legally judge others even if they are unbelievers, if they are transgressing the laws of man which we all, as a united citizenry, agreed upon via the government we all live under in the World.

Thus in accordance with laws put in place by the man made government, we have an obligation to live by them as dictated, and thus the right to judge others for breaking those legal laws. Remember, we asked for a King, now we must live by their laws. In the United States, codified into the laws is a right for every citizen to challenge both the law makers, and the law breakers. In such we are judging, and this is where God allows Christians to judge non believers. 

However, no Christian should ever follow any law that causes them to commit a sin. We know what Jesus calls us to do, and we know how Jesus wants us to live. Outside of the boundaries set by God through Jesus Christ, we have an obligation to follow man's laws. Whether we like them or not. If we don't, then in some countries, like Democracies, we can and should do our due diligence to change the laws we feel are unjust or immoral. However, I repeat, no Christian should ever follow a law that calls for them to break any of God's Commandments.

So, as a Christian, we should not be judging the behavior of non believers, unless it is a man made legal law they are violating. Believers inside the church have an obligation to judge each other, albeit righteously. Then, as a child of Christ, we have an obligation to search and judge ourselves, so we do not fall into condemnation.

I pray that those who have ears to hear, will hear what the Spirit of the Lord says, and call upon His name. Amen

[sauropod]

Bkmk for study.

[PGalt]

Judge and expect to be judged (by anyone who wants to)

[humblegunner]

Judge Yourself Lest You Be Judged

I judge myself to be awesome.

Whew, dodged a bullet there.

I hadn't judged myself until you told me I should.

Thanks.

[Nifster]

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us

[MAAG]

Romans 8 New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995)
Deliverance from Bondage

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

[MAAG]

Colossians 2 New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995)

13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.